Apparatus for automatically controlling the speed of the trains.



J G. SGHREUDEE & v. K. SPIGER. APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY CONTROLLINGTHE SPEED OF TRAINS. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 8, 1907.

903,417. Patented Nov. 10, 1908.

3 SITEETSSHEET 1v WITNESSES INVENTORS 5. Q. Wmi M. (3 m rQMM/Whk,

J. G. SGIIREUDER 6: V. K. SBIOER. APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLYCONTROLLING THE SPEED OF TRAINS. IAPPLIOATIO'N FILED AUG. 8, 1907.

903,41 7. Patented Nov. 10, 1908.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

J. G. SGHREUDER & V. K. SPIGER. APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY CONTROLLINGTHE SPEED OF TRAINS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 8, 1907.

903,41 7. Patented Nov. 10, 1908.

3 SHEETBSHEET 3.

W m mmw matlc control of railway drawin s, forming JENS G. SGHREUDER, OFEDGEWOOD PARK ,CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS TO TH SWISSVALE,PENNSYLVANIA, A OORPORA OFFICE.

PENNSYLVANIA, AND VIBE K. SPIOER, O]?

E UNION SWITCH & SIGNAL COMPANY, OF TION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

'APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY CONTROLLING THE SPEED OF TRAINS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 10, 1908.

Application filed August 8, 1907. Serial No. 387,600}.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JENs G. SCHREUDER, of Edgewood Park, Alleghenycounty, Pennsylvania, and. Visa K. SPICER, of Chicago, Cook county,Illinois, have invented a new and useful Apparatus for AutomaticallyControlling the Speed of Trains, of which the following is a full,clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying inwhic 1- Figures 1 and 2' are diagrammatic views illustratin differentembodiments of our invention; fig. 3 is a plan view showing the speedgovernor; Fig. 4 is a sid a view showing tie speed governor and the tripand valve mechanisms; Fig. 5 an end view of the same, and Fig. 6 is adetail section-1.1 view of n'leans for throwing the speed governor intoand out of operation.

Our invention has relation to the aulotrains or other vehicles, in whichthe en inc or other vehicle, is provided with a trip c lia-dingmechanism for operating the lHFtlQH to bring the train to a full stop,and. with othta' tripaictuating mechanism for effecting a serviceapplication of the brakes, the latter mechanism being inoperative unlessthe speed of the train is in excess of a predetermined limit. A systemof this kind is more fully described and claimed in our application,Serial N o. 326,93. of even date herewith.

The-present invention relates more particularly to the speed governingdevice, and to means for moving the same into and out of operation, theapparatus controlled by said device being so arranged that its operationis ineflective unless the speed of the train is in excess of thepredetermined limit.

Referring to Fig. 1, the numeral 2 designates a depending trip arm,which is pivoted to the frame of the locomotive or other vehicle at 3,and which is designed to engage With track trips 3 along the railroad atthe desired points. The pivot of the trip arm 2 carries a contact 4,which, is normally engaged by two contact arms 5, which form a part ofan electric circuit hereinafter described, said contacts being soarranged, as shown, that a slight movement of the trip in eitherdirection from its normal position will break the circuit at this point.

part of this specification,

6 designates a friction wheel, which is designed to be moved into andout of frictional contact with one of the wheels 7 of the engine orother vehicle. This wheel is shown as mountsd upon one arm of a lever 8pivoted at 9, and whose other arm is connected bya rod 10 with a piston11- which works in an air cylinder 12, (see Fig. 6). This cylinder isconnected with the fluid pressure supply pipe- 13 by a ort 14. having avalve 15, said valve being he d in closed position by a s prin 16 andopened by an electromagnet 17 whic when energized, overcomes the actionof the said spring. The shaft of the friction wheel 6 is connected inany suitable manner with a centrifugally acting electric switch 18incloscd in a suitable casing 18. In the drawings, we have shown thisconnection as elfected by means of a flexible shaft 19. The centrifugaldevice which controls the switch 18 may be any suitable'form ofcentrifugal governor, such as an ordinary ball governor. shown, itconsists of an ecccntrically pivoted weight member .30 having a normaloblique position and tending to gradually assun'ie a vertical positionas its speed of rotation inreases. this movement causing an endwise Inthe Form movement of the spindle 21 to openthe switch 18.

22 designates a normally closed valve, which is connected with thetrainbrake pipe 22, and which when opened is designed to allow air to exhaustfrom said pipe to effect a predetermined amount of reduction in thetrain pipe pressure to thereby obtain a service application of thebrakes. Thls valve is normally held closed by an electromagnet 23. Thevalve 22 may be any well-known form of valve for the purpose.

The circuit of the magnet 23 is closed through the movable switch member18, 24 indicating a battery or other source of supply for said circuit.The circuit of the magnet 17 is completed through the armature 25 of arelay magnet 26, and the circuit which includes the trip-operated.breaker 5'is also closed through the armature 25. The coil' 26 isconnected on one slde with one terminal and upon the other side to ,a

of the battery,

having one branch which is conductor 27 closed by a second armature 28of the coil 26, and another branch hand switch 29 and which leadsthrough a through the switch 189 net.

The operationis as follows :'The friction wheel 6 is normally held outof contact with the locomotive or car wheel by the pressure of the airin the cylinder 12. When the trip a In 2 engages with one of the tracktrips,

the circuit of the magnet 17 is broken at the' contacts 5, thereby(lenergizing said mag- This closes the valve 15 and allows the air toexhaust from the cylinder 12 through. the. port 1 1 and the spring atonce throws the wheel 6 into frictional contact withthe car Wheel 7. Ifthe speed of the car is below the predetermined limit, the switch 18will remain closed and the magnet 23 and valve 22 will notbe affected.The speed governor will not be affected, and the return of the arm 2 toits normal position will reenergize the magnet 17 and again admit air tothe cylinder 12 to throw. the wheel 6 out of opera tion. If, however,the s eed of the train exceeds the predetermine limit to which thegovernor member is set, the switch 18 is immediatelyopened. This breaksthe cir cuit of the magnet 23 and. allows air to escape from the valve22 to effect the service application of the brakes. The opening of theswitch 18 also deenergizes the relay mag.-

net 26 and both its armatures and 2S open. If the hand switch 29 isopen, the

magnet 26 cannot be recnergized until this switch is closed, and thennot unless the speed has been reduced to such an extent as to close theswitch 18. If this switch has been returned to closed position by thegov ernor, the closing of the hand switch will energize the magnet 26,causing it to attract its armatures 25 and 28.- The closing of thearmature 25 will recnergize the magnet 17, thereby admitting air to thecylinder 12 to throw the wheel 6 out of operative position. The closingof the armature 2S completes the circuit of the relay magnet 26independently of the hand switch 29, so that the subsequent opening ofsuch switch by the engineer will have no effect.

From the foregoing it will be noted that the circuit of the magnet 23 isopened only when the speed of the train is such as to open the switch18. At other times the operation of the trip arm. 2 simply momentarilythrows the speed governor into operation without any other el'l'e ct,and the latter is at once thrown out again as soon. the trip arm isrestored to itsnormal position. If, however, the speed is such asto-open the valve 18, the speed governor ren'iains-in operation untilthe speed has been reduced suticicntly to close the switch 18.

The arrangement shown in Fig. 2 is substantially the same that shown inFig. l, eXce t that a separate battery 30 is employed for t is circuitof the magnet 23, this circuit being controlled by the speed. governorcontrol switch 18. In this arra 'cment, we have also indicate-dc trip 31ticsignied to'opcrate valve mechanism 32 for the purpose of bringing thetrain to a full stop. We have also shown the pipe 22 from the valve 22as connected into this valve mechanism, which operates to effects.service application of the brakes when the valve 2.2 is opened.

The advantages of our invention result from the fact that by its use itis impossible for an engineer to run by a given point at speed in excessof that re nired by the rules or by the temporary roa conditions. Thetrack tri )S 3 may be operated in connection with the ionic and distantsignal movements, so as to be moved into and out of position by themovement of the signals, as fully de scribed and claimed in ourapplication above referredi or said trips may be placed eithertemporarily or permanently at any desired points along the road, atcurves or other places where it is desirable for safety to reduce therunning speed.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes maybe nude in the mechanical construction and arrangement of the variousparts, the drawings being largely diagrammatic andv illustrating thebroad features of our invention. Thus, various devices may be employedfor controlling the circuits and for throwing the speed governor intoand out of operative position.

\Vliat we claim is 1. in a 'iparatus for train control, a normallyclosed controlling Valve, a train-driven speed. actuated governor,connections controlled by said governor for effecting the opening of thevalve and trip actuated means for throwing the governor into operation;substantially described.

2. In apparatus for train-control, a con trolling valve, anelectro-n1agnet for operating said Valve, a switch controlling thecircuit of the magnet, a speed governor for operating said switch, andmeans for throwing the speed governor into and out of operation uidcrpredetermined conditions; substantially as described.

In ap )aratus for train-control, a con trolling valve, 3. speed-operateddevice for controlling the o poration of said valve, a motor forthrowing the speed-actuated device into and out of operation, and a tripfor controlling the motive device; substantially as described.

4. In apparatus for train control, a norreally closed controlling valve,a n'iagnet for operating said valve, a controlling switch forthe.circuit of the magnet, speed-governed means for operating the saidswitch, and trip-actuated means for moving t to speedci: rtrol led meansinto operative lposition;

substantially as described.

5. in apparatus for train-control, valve mcchanisi'n for c'llecting aservice-application of the brakes, a spced-governed device forcontrolling the operation. ol the valve mcchlll , trolling device, a.sprint-tactile! ed grwcrno'r for anisrn, and a trip for controlling theoperation of the speed-gtworned device; substantially as described.

6. ln apparatus'for train control, a (-(HP trolling device, a traindriven governor, connections controlled by said governor for shiftingthe position of said device, trip act natcd means for throwing thegovernor into operation and .rneans whereby said governor is thrown outof operation without shifting the controlling device when the speed ofthe train is below a I'HOtlOlQl'ltlllltKl rate substantially asdescribed.

7. In train controlling apparatus, acontrolling device, a speed.actuated governor having connections for shifting said device when thespeed of the train is above the predetermined limit, trip mechanism forthrowing the governor into operation, and meansl'or throwing thegovernor out of operation when the speed is below the predeterminedrat-c snhstantially as described.

8. In trairneontrolling apparatus, a controlling device, a. speedactuated governor driven by the train, and hating conncctimis to heorn-trated thereby to shill the control ling device, trip actuated meansl'or throwing the governor into driring connecti n with a. moving partol' the train, and means depcnding upon the speed of the train fordetcrininl in; the length of time such dririn connectit in isnntintaincd substantially asdcscrihed.

. In apparatus for train control, a con shit-ting Sitltl device, meansfor normally hold. ing the governor ino wrati'rc, trip actuated meansfor throwing the governor into action at. any desired point along thetrack, and memo: controlled or the speed of the train \vln- 3y thegorornor will not act to shiftthe controlling dcx'ire unless the speedof the train exceeds a prmlctcrniined rate; substantially as dcscriiic'10. in apparatus l n' train control, a controlling dcrirc, a speed artcited govcrl'iol,

a. Hlflllk cdcxice .l'or th owin the speed actui ing and closing thesaid circuit, an electric circi'tit controlled by the gorcrnm', andmeans controlled by the last named circuitfor shifting the controllingdevice; snlistane tially as described.

11. in apparatus for train controhn. de-

rice for controlling the speed of the train, an

electric circuit having a magnet for shifting moving part of the train,a motive d vice for controlling the said driving connection, a secondelectric circuit having a magnet there in which controls the operationof the motive device, anofa traclvacrnoted trip device an ranged to openand close the last named circuit; substantially descrihcd.

12. In apparatus for train control, a device [or controlling; the speedof the train, an electric circnir having :1 magnet for shifting theposition el said dm 'Lw, a rend riiugal govcrnor a raged to open andclose the said circnit, a (lll \ll1}Jj connection. between said govr-rnor and. a mowing part oi the train. a motivr 'lindi*.r hatingtlnkrcin a pistol. and spring for throwing the driiing eoinicction intoand out of queration, an electric circuit having a magnet which controlsthe admission of power to said cylinder, and a track operated. tripdevice for opening and closing tln'- last. nan'icd circuit;snhr-ztnntinlly as desrriht-d. 3

ln testimony wlnn'eof, we have hereuntoset our hands. JENS t.StHIREUDlCR.

V1131). K. SPH-ER. Witnesses as to Jens G. Scln'euder:

t. C. Wn'rrn, 'Janns (,JIALMERS, Jr.

Witnesses as to Yihe li. fipiccrz C no. In it RLO r r, ljnoxann "V. NO\in nit.

I the position of said device, centrifugal. gov ernor having a drivingconnection with a

